The Exact Moment Prince Harry's Relationship With The Queen May Have Changed Forever
Although they were clearly welcome, there was plenty of drama in the weeks leading up to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's appearance at the queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Prior to their whole family making the trip over, the Duke of Sussex had a private visit with his beloved grandmother, in an effort to ease the tension between them ahead of such a huge public event. Sadly, a royal expert revealed Harry's surprise visit with the queen didn't make a dent in their rift.
"I'd say the rift very definitely hasn't been healed," Richard Fitzwilliams told Us Weekly. "That, I'm afraid, is quite clear." Their relationship has been strained for a while now, ever since the Sussexes decided to leave the royal family and, subsequently, shared their issues with being part of The Firm. As Fitzwilliams acknowledged, "It really is an extraordinary situation." Adding insult to injury, the couple's reunion with the queen at the Jubilee didn't exactly go to plan either.
Despite their enthusiasm, Meghan and Harry's private meeting with the queen was reportedly way shorter than we all thought. An insider confirmed to The Sun that they were only given around 15 minutes of her time, despite making the journey over for the Jubilee. Likewise, royal aides ensured their reunion was kept "formal" rather than familial. Sadly, it seems there's still a long way to go to figure things out, especially given this latest revelation about a previous snub.
The Duke of Sussex was shocked to be excluded from this family moment
Tom Bower's upcoming book, "Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors," is poised to detail exactly how the Sussexes felt about their time with the royal family, like never before. One of the biggest revelations in the tome, according to The Mirror, is that Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, was devastated when he discovered his beloved grandmother had left him out of the family photos for her 2019 Christmas Day broadcast.
The queen's address was recorded at her desk at Buckingham Palace, which was decorated with photos of the entire extended clan, including her father, King George VI, Prince William and his wife, Catherine Middleton, and Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla Parker Bowles. Notably absent from the lineup were the Sussexes. "As Harry watched his grandmother from Vancouver, he was staggered. Four silver-framed family photographs had been carefully placed behind her," Bower wrote. "To Harry's fury, there was no photographer of himself, Meghan, and Archie."
Thus, the prince felt, "The Windsors were airbrushing the Sussexes from history." Although Megxit didn't occur until January 2020, the move was already known to the queen, meaning it likely impacted her decision to exclude the couple from the family photos, at least as far as Bower is concerned. Elsewhere, per The Mirror, despite reports to the contrary, "Revenge" posits the Sussexes did want to be on the balcony for Trooping the Colour, but Prince Charles forbade it.
Meghan and Harry's relationship with the royals is laid bare in a new book
Deadline reports Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, is probably "dreading" the release of "Revenge," which was crucially conducted without the Sussexes' input. Among other things, author Tom Bower contends the queen was relieved the duchess was pregnant and couldn't travel to the U.K. for Prince Philip's funeral. Bower has been a frequent and very vocal critic of Meghan and Harry. During a recent appearance on TalkTV with Piers Morgan, he argued their only goal in life is the pursuit of wealth and fame.
Per The Sun, Bower claimed that he discovered the former actor was critical of Harry's friends, especially when they told what she considered off-color jokes. "Again and again she reprimanded them about the slightest inappropriate nuance. Nobody was exempt. Harry's world would not be her world," Bower asserted. In fact, much like Morgan, Bower blames Meghan for turning Harry into a miserable sycophant who complains about the climate crisis despite regularly using private jets.
The royal expert even branded the prince's recent keynote speech at the UN a vanity project. "He does it because he needs a profile, that's the only way they can get money by showing the profile and for Netflix," Bower told Morgan. As for the queen's relationship with Harry, royal insiders revealed to People that she's careful to balance her public duties with her role as a loving grandmother. Their bond may have been tested, but it's still intact.